The Glow of the Lights
by lifechiaroscuro
Summary: "I'm just happy to have someone to give a gift to." For anyone who's reading a late night Christmas fic.


A/N: Yes, there is an OC, she'll have a minor part, though. She will have a small segment to herself, but otherwise she'll be in the background. She'll also make more sense after I post the first couple of chapters of another fic. There will also (hopefully) be a New Year's one.

Merry Christmas, all!

* * *

Avalien goes to see them on Christmas Eve, and they spend an afternoon telling battle stories and talking about their lives while drinking and eating fancy cheese and crackers. And, somehow, playing Clue together. James' idea, and rather strange for the day, but it was something that led to Russian curses and smiles all around.

They invited her to stay, for dinner if not overnight, but she declines, telling them, "В конце концов, В гостя́х хорошо́, а до́ма лу́чше."

"Home?" Steve has evidently recognized the saying.

Natasha soon realizes what she means - and of course she does, Natasha knows her best. "You're going to see your sister."

Avalien smiles. "Yes, and I have a flight to catch."

"You'll come for Christmas dinner?" Sam queries.

Avalien pauses for a moment, uncertain.

_I don't want to intrude. _

"Alright."

Avalien puts a hand on Natasha's shoulder, kissing her cheek. "Have a good evening, 'Tasha."

She steps back, "And you too, boys."

"Have a good time with your sister," Natasha tells her.

Avalien walks towards the door, picking up her purse. She turns back before she leaves, "I'll see you tomorrow, then."

She gets various versions of "Goodbye," and "See you then!" as she walks out the door.

* * *

Avalien is uncertain, as she always is, as she reaches the door to her sister's apartment. They've developed a pretty good relationship, for two relatives that rarely see each other, but she's never stopped being unsure when she's standing in front of Kira's apartment. Uncertain about how well they'll get along, especially now that she's started to reveal more of her true self. Particularly uncertain that she should even be there. Her job has always made these sorts of relationships risky, and it's even more so now that S.H.I.E.L.D. no longer exists. Now both HYDRA and the American military and intelligence community - not to mention some operatives personal enemies, of which she has quite a few - are hunting down former operatives. Coming here could have horrible consequences, but it's Christmas. Avalien has made a promise to her sister, and, to be honest, she just _misses _Kira.

She knocks, and Kira soon opens the door. She has a big smile on her face, and it seems that she has missed her sister too.

The two of them are pretty much polar opposites. Kira's skin is not pale, and her hair is blonde, straight, and short. She seems to vibrate it energy, talking often. Avalien has her share of energy too, but she's more contained, and quiet and graceful where her sister's feet are loud on the laminate, and she stumbles over them once.

But they get on well enough, once they've poured their wine. Kira leans against the counter, sipping her red, and Avalien sits in a chair, tracing a finger around the rim of her glass of white. They talk of just about everything. Kira's job - a leader of sports camps for kids - and Avalien's new job - freelance interpreter -, current national and international events, a local arts festival that Kira is involved in, and Natasha and Steve's relationship. Kira doesn't know that it was Natasha Romanoff and Steve Rogers that she and Avalien speak of, but the two of them still laugh about a man raised in an old fashioned home and the woman who constantly surprises him.

It's a wonderful evening. They part with a laugh and mutual exclamations of "Merry Christmas!" On the plane ride home, she wears a soft, bright smile that doesn't leave her face. She's still smiling when she sits down with a glass of eggnog, staring into the golden glow of her Christmas tree and remembering.

* * *

After Avalien leaves, they become a bit less boisterous. They sit back and talk. It's their first Christmas together, and they talk about their favorite traditions. Natasha loses herself in her head once or twice as they talk of Christmas, remembering less happy holidays, but Steve draws her back with her name and a kiss on her cheek.

Steve talks about a tiny tree that he and James had bought one year. Talks about how they hadn't been wealthy enough to have a real Christmas tree, but had decorated the tree with bits of tinsel and a string of beads. James seems to remember it well, because he puts a hand on Steve's shoulder from where he sits beside Steve.

James speaks up unexpectedly, remembering watching a target handing out presents to her children and actually feeling a hint of emotion - longing, he thinks, for something mostly unknown.

Natasha remembers something too.

_The man is rich, and she's playing his assistant. Cliche, she knows, but expedient. She's come to pick up a present that she's "forgotten". She's about to walk down the stairs but suddenly, near the end, she stops. _

_The man is watching his younger daughter as she opens a present. She screams and giggles over the toy, and there's such an expression of _joy _on his face._

_She feels a rush of warmth and a longing for something like that. Not a family, just someone to give a gift to. So when she continues down the stairs and the man looks up at her - "Amelia?" - she simply smiles and shows him the gift. _

_"Merry Christmas." _

_He happily returns the sentiment, and she almost smiles as she walks out the door. _

"Natasha?" Steve is looking down at her, clearly curious. She must have been smiling as she remembered, because he doesn't look at all worried.

"What are you remembering?" He presses his lips against her hair, turning towards her. She's curled up against him with her head on his shoulder. She just shakes her head and turns her face into his neck, smiling.

"Another Christmas, long ago. Kind of a good memory."

She raises her head to look at him, and James where he sits beside Steve and Sam where he sits beside her.

"I'm just happy to have someone to give a gift to."

"Me too." James agrees, and reaches out his hand to clasp hers.

Later on, Steve steals a kiss before reaching for his cup of cider, and Natasha stares into the golden glow of their Christmas tree.

"I think Avalien was right," she muses. "We are a family."

"Hear, hear," Sam murmurs, and Bucky gives a soft laugh in response.

They leave for bed soon after, and right before she closes her eyes, Steve tells her quietly, "Love you."

She smiles, and gives him one last kiss.


End file.
